Hello everyone, this is Annita again. As some of you know, I am trying to get into the nursing program so I decided to start volunteering at a hospital in order to increase my chance of getting in. I have been volunteering in the emergency room at Eagle Ridge hospital in Port Moody ever since last November and it has been a very good experience for me. Well, about 2 or 3 months ago I was in the emergency room walking past the beds, making sure that everyone had what they need, when I came across an elderly lady who didn't seem to be doing well at all. So I went over to her and asked her how she was doing. She said she had never been so sick in all her life and was very scared. So I stayed with her and listened to her talk about how she was feeling. She clearly was not doing well so I asked her questions about her life in order to try to distract her from her pain for a little while. We exchanged names (hers is Margaret) and talked about life for about an hour or so, but still she was very uneasy and kept saying how frightened she was. So I asked her if she would like me to pray for her and she said yes, so I prayed that the Lord would give her peace and ease her pain. She thanked me afterward and seemed a little bit relieved and tired at the same time. She looked like she wanted to sleep, so I told her I was going to let her rest and asked her to give me a call once she got home to let me know how she's doing.
We kept in touch for the past couple of months and I call her every once in a while to see how she is doing. It had been about 3 or 4 weeks since I had last called her, when she gave me a call last night and left a wonderful message. She thanked me again for being there for her and said that she had prayed (the day she got sick) that the Lord would send someone to her because she knew she couldn't pull through on her own - and He sent me. She went on to say that she has committed her life to the Lord because by sending me to her, He showed her that He is real and that He does care for her. Margaret lives on her own and said that her health issues have been preventing her from going out very much so she often feels alone; however, ever since she accepted Jesus as her savior she said she does not feel nearly as bad and has a lot of peace. She has a friend who goes to the same church as me (Willingdon), and this friend of hers has been giving her bible study materials and guiding her to a deeper relationship with Jesus. Margaret is very excited about her new life in Christ and said she would very much like to start coming to church with my family. How exciting!!! I was so happy when I got her message last night and am really excited to see her again! Please continue to pray that the Lord would work in the lives of the patients and staff at Eagle Ridge and that He would continue to give me opportunities and wisdom to share the love and truth of Christ.
As for Steve and I, we started marriage counseling about 3 weeks ago and it has been great so far. We have been paired with a great mentor couple and have gotten to talk about a lot of things we hadn't thought of talking through. Wedding planning is going great! For those of you who don't know, we found an all inclusive wedding package...which includes wedding coordinators! It's great not having to go crazy!
As of right now we are still looking for a place to stay once we get married. I finished school about 1 month ago and will be finishing an online course this Tuesday. Afterward I plan on going job hunting (yay) and we are praying really hard that I will get a decent job very soon.
There will be another MA (mission adventures) team coming next week, so please be praying for Steve, the YWAM staff and the students they are going to have. Also, I just realized that some of you might not know what YWAM is, so if you want to see what the organization is about you can go to www.ywam.org and to check out YWAM Vancouver's programs click here.
Thanks again for your continued prayers and support - we are very grateful!
-- Annita
Friday, May 21, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
God always comes through!
Hello all, Annita here. For those of you who don't already know, Steve moved to Vancouver on April 15th! It is amazing how God prepared the way for us to find the place where he is now living; He is an incredible designer of plans and it's so exciting to see them come to pass as we trust in Him!
Since December 2009, my mom had been asking people she knew if any of them had a room available for rent or if they knew anyone who did, but no one had anything within our price range ($600/month or less...the metro Vancouver area is quite expensive). We checked Craigslist and a bunch of other websites nearly every day to see if anything we could potentially rent came up, but there was nothing. All rooms/apartments were either within our price range and very far away from the YWAM Vancouver base/Annita's school or started at $700/month and went up from there. We were getting a little anxious but decided to put our trust in the Lord and asked Him to provide the right place for us at just the right time.
On Sunday, March 28th, Steve felt like the Lord said that he would be moving to Vancouver soon so he started to pack his things as soon as he got home from church. At the same time, I felt like the Lord was saying the same thing as well. The following Sunday a man at his church told Steve that he believed the Lord was saying He will provide a place in a way that we would not expect. We thought that was interesting because we also had been hearing the same thing from the Lord...so we continued to put our hope and trust in Him as we waited on Him to come through for us.
In the meantime, my mom had asked one of her friends if she knew of anyone who might have a place. Her friend said that she would mention it to her Bible study group and get back to my mom. About two weeks had gone by and her friend had mentioned it to her Bible study group but had forgotten to tell my mom the news...so we were still waiting. On Sunday, April 11th my mom ran into her friend at church and they talked for a while about life and other such things, but her friend felt like she was forgetting to tell my mom something important. She eventually remembered about Steve and I and told my mom, "I forgot to tell you that I talked to my Bible study group about Steve and Annita and told them that they are looking for a place to stay. Our Bible study leader said that his mom does bed and breakfast and currently has some rooms available." I got his mom's contact information and gave her a call two days later. Steve came over that same day and we both went to meet with her the following day.
Her name is Doreen and she is the sweetest old lady I have ever met. She loves to talk and can go on for hours, so we talked with her for a while. At 89 years of age she is standing tall and has still not retired! She is incredibly strong, does some of her own yardwork, cleans her own house and even makes breakfast every morning for all who live with her! We sat down with her over coffee and delicious home-made banana muffins. We found out she has a strong relationship with Jesus so we explained our situation to her and she decided to only charge Steve $400/month!!! This is an amazing deal...especially considering the fact that she lives in North Vancouver! She also told us that he was an answer to her prayers as well, as she would be traveling very soon and wanted someone to look after the house while she was away (no one else will be there during the time that she is gone). Breakfast is also included in the price and my family always has Steve over for dinner, so that saves us a lot of money every month. The Lord is so good and so faithful as long as we continue trusting Him no matter how bleak the situation looks. He came through for us just in the nick of time and we know and believe that He will continue to do so.
Steve moved up to Vancouver on April 15th and has had a good week so far. He started working with YWAM Vancouver on April 19 and really enjoys it! The first group of MA (Mission Adventures) students will be coming tomorrow and this week will be quite crazy for him! Please be praying for strength physically and spiritually for Steve as well as all the other YWAM staff as they reach out to high school students to spark their interest in missions.
We certainly did not expect to get that good of a deal...especially in North Vancouver!! God is so good and is absolutely BRILLIANT! Steve now lives a 15 minute drive from the YWAM base and can also bike to work a few times a week. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support - we really appreciate them and you guys as well!
As for me, I just finished with my exams last week and am now working on completing an online course in mental health. Once I finish with this course (hopefully in the next two weeks) I will receive a citation (which is like a certificate) and will *hopefully* be able to get a job in the mental health field afterward. Please pray that I do well and will be able to get a job soon.
Keep checking in every week or two, as we will be posting updates as frequently as possible :) Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support - I don't believe we could do this without the body of Christ lifting us up in prayer and strengthening us with encouragement!
-- Annita
PS: I know some of you have been trying to contact us via email and haven't been able to. I now just realized why...the email is actually steveandannita@yahoo.ca not @yahoo.com. Sorry about that! Do send us mail, we'd love to get in contact with you :)
Since December 2009, my mom had been asking people she knew if any of them had a room available for rent or if they knew anyone who did, but no one had anything within our price range ($600/month or less...the metro Vancouver area is quite expensive). We checked Craigslist and a bunch of other websites nearly every day to see if anything we could potentially rent came up, but there was nothing. All rooms/apartments were either within our price range and very far away from the YWAM Vancouver base/Annita's school or started at $700/month and went up from there. We were getting a little anxious but decided to put our trust in the Lord and asked Him to provide the right place for us at just the right time.
On Sunday, March 28th, Steve felt like the Lord said that he would be moving to Vancouver soon so he started to pack his things as soon as he got home from church. At the same time, I felt like the Lord was saying the same thing as well. The following Sunday a man at his church told Steve that he believed the Lord was saying He will provide a place in a way that we would not expect. We thought that was interesting because we also had been hearing the same thing from the Lord...so we continued to put our hope and trust in Him as we waited on Him to come through for us.
In the meantime, my mom had asked one of her friends if she knew of anyone who might have a place. Her friend said that she would mention it to her Bible study group and get back to my mom. About two weeks had gone by and her friend had mentioned it to her Bible study group but had forgotten to tell my mom the news...so we were still waiting. On Sunday, April 11th my mom ran into her friend at church and they talked for a while about life and other such things, but her friend felt like she was forgetting to tell my mom something important. She eventually remembered about Steve and I and told my mom, "I forgot to tell you that I talked to my Bible study group about Steve and Annita and told them that they are looking for a place to stay. Our Bible study leader said that his mom does bed and breakfast and currently has some rooms available." I got his mom's contact information and gave her a call two days later. Steve came over that same day and we both went to meet with her the following day.
Her name is Doreen and she is the sweetest old lady I have ever met. She loves to talk and can go on for hours, so we talked with her for a while. At 89 years of age she is standing tall and has still not retired! She is incredibly strong, does some of her own yardwork, cleans her own house and even makes breakfast every morning for all who live with her! We sat down with her over coffee and delicious home-made banana muffins. We found out she has a strong relationship with Jesus so we explained our situation to her and she decided to only charge Steve $400/month!!! This is an amazing deal...especially considering the fact that she lives in North Vancouver! She also told us that he was an answer to her prayers as well, as she would be traveling very soon and wanted someone to look after the house while she was away (no one else will be there during the time that she is gone). Breakfast is also included in the price and my family always has Steve over for dinner, so that saves us a lot of money every month. The Lord is so good and so faithful as long as we continue trusting Him no matter how bleak the situation looks. He came through for us just in the nick of time and we know and believe that He will continue to do so.
Steve moved up to Vancouver on April 15th and has had a good week so far. He started working with YWAM Vancouver on April 19 and really enjoys it! The first group of MA (Mission Adventures) students will be coming tomorrow and this week will be quite crazy for him! Please be praying for strength physically and spiritually for Steve as well as all the other YWAM staff as they reach out to high school students to spark their interest in missions.
We certainly did not expect to get that good of a deal...especially in North Vancouver!! God is so good and is absolutely BRILLIANT! Steve now lives a 15 minute drive from the YWAM base and can also bike to work a few times a week. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support - we really appreciate them and you guys as well!
As for me, I just finished with my exams last week and am now working on completing an online course in mental health. Once I finish with this course (hopefully in the next two weeks) I will receive a citation (which is like a certificate) and will *hopefully* be able to get a job in the mental health field afterward. Please pray that I do well and will be able to get a job soon.
Keep checking in every week or two, as we will be posting updates as frequently as possible :) Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support - I don't believe we could do this without the body of Christ lifting us up in prayer and strengthening us with encouragement!
-- Annita
PS: I know some of you have been trying to contact us via email and haven't been able to. I now just realized why...the email is actually steveandannita@yahoo.ca not @yahoo.com. Sorry about that! Do send us mail, we'd love to get in contact with you :)
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